


Fanciful Distractions And Literary Indulgences

by Random_Nexus



Series: Watson's Woes October Spooktacular Prompts 2019 [3]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, October Spooktacular 2019, Prompt Fic, References to Frankenstein, Watson's Woes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 20:50:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21362488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Nexus/pseuds/Random_Nexus
Summary: Watson gets Holmes to indulge in some fanciful conjecture.Written for: The 3rdOctober SpooktacularPrompt — "Frankenstein: Whether it's in reference to the story, the challenge to Mary Shelley (and others) to come up with a spooky tale, or just the mishmashing of random bits together, use the word or one of the underlying concepts to inspire your work." —Watson's Woes Communityon Dreamwidth.
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Series: Watson's Woes October Spooktacular Prompts 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538617
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Fanciful Distractions And Literary Indulgences

**Author's Note:**

> I had planned to spend NaNoWriMo working on another project — and I have been working on it, too — but the Muse seems to want to do these prompts from October, so I'm riding the wave of creativity and using it to shorten my learning curve on the Dragon speech to text program. This one's a little more silly than spooky, but I hope some of you will enjoy it, anyway.

“The idea is patently ridiculous!” scoffed Holmes as he flicked a contemptuous hand in the direction of the book Watson held, lifting his head to throw his friend a disgusted frown.

“I’m not suggesting that it is genuinely possible,” protested Watson in a somewhat chiding tone. “I was merely proposing it as an interesting thought exercise. If being a consulting detective should ever pall—” Holmes made a rude noise, but Watson continued with almost no pause, “and let’s just say you were to take up a position as a mad scientist; surely you would have some thoughts on how you would go about building your own creature.”

With a gusty sigh, Holmes let his head fall back onto the rim of the settee’s padded arm. “This is exactly why I sometimes protest your choices in filling your idle moments, Watson. At least with H. Rider Haggard or John Louis Stevenson you merely get a yen for travel, perhaps fanciful notions about ships or exotic females, but you generally leave me out of it.”

Reaching out without moving from his spot in his favorite chair, Watson gave the side of the settee a little thump with his foot. “Come, come, old boy, indulge me.” He took on a humorously cajoling tone. “It’s not as if I haven’t indulged you hundreds of times in what often seems nonsense to me.”

“You wound me, Watson,” intoned Holmes, putting a hand to his chest.

“Ha!” Watson mocked gently. “You cannot pretend to have no imagination, or that you haven’t read the book, because I know better this time, and both are untrue.” He lifted the book he had been holding, and previously reading, to underscore his words before setting it aside on a nearby table.

Holmes was silent just long enough that Watson thought perhaps he wasn’t going to speak, after all, but then he gave another sigh and a languid gesture of one hand. “Very well, but see that you do not forget this indulgence. I assure you, no one else could move me to such a ludicrous waste of time.”

“You weren’t doing anything, anyway, save for lying there working yourself into one of your black moods.” Although Watson sounded offhand, his gaze upon his friend was watchful. “Besides, you’ve agreed; let’s hear it.”

“Well,” Holmes drawled, taking a dramatically long pause before continuing, “I wouldn’t make a jigsaw puzzle of my _creature_. It’s a waste of time and materials. I should rather find as good a specimen as possible and simply fix whatever needed fixing, using only two or three corpses, instead of dozens…” he wafted his hand in the air again, “or whatever it was that Shelley’s poor mad fool of a doctor gleaned from the dissecting room and the slaughter-house.”

“Yes, I do abhor waste, myself,” agreed Watson dryly.

“Precisely,” Holmes approved with a nod. He then set his fingertips together over his chest, eyes closed, and looked pensive for a few moments before continuing. “I’m sure you also will agree that making such a thing and then abandoning it is another kind of waste, one perhaps even more deplorable; and thus its perpetrator would be well deserving of a good horse whipping, at the very least.”

“Agreed!” Watson’s tone turned merry. “If you’re going to go to all the trouble of making a minion, you’d want to train it up to do your bidding properly before loosing it upon the world.”

“Or…” Holmes opened his nearest eye just a crack, surreptitiously looking at Watson, “simply find one ready-made by advertising through various acquaintances and let the world think him merely a fellow lodger as you carry out whatever training is necessary.”

Watson sat upright in his chair, crying laughingly, “You utter prat!” as he snatched the pillow from behind his own back to toss it at Holmes’s head.

Holmes made a soft ‘oof’ sound that blended into a muffled chuckle, not even attempting to fend off his just punishment, his own nearly silent laughter then joining with Watson's for a short time. He removed the pillow a few minutes later, tossing it back to Watson as he sat up. “Come along, my dear minion. It’s nearly half past seven. Let us dress and take ourselves to Simpsons-on-the-Strand. I believe I’m actually feeling a bit peckish.”

“What a splendid idea,” Watson said, struggling not to look or sound smug. He had been trying all day and into the evening to get Holmes to eat something. “I shall send Billy out to find us a cab before I go up to change.”

Their supper at Simpsons’ was superb, as ever, and their conversation’s subject matter wended its way from the fantastical to more realistic topics of medical research, as well as other scientific fields.


End file.
